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A STUDY of SOUTH ASIAN BAR DANCERS by NAIRRUTI JANI Presen

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A STUDY of SOUTH ASIAN BAR DANCERS by NAIRRUTI JANI Presen EXPLORING VULNERABILITY AND CONSENT TO TRAFFICKING RELATED MIGRATION: A STUDY OF SOUTH ASIAN BAR DANCERS by NAIRRUTI JANI Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Arlington in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON December 2009 Copyright © by Nairruti Jani 2009 All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I acknowledge the participants who shared their life stories with me. If it was not for those tears hidden behind the smiling faces of bar dancers, I would not have a reason to conduct this research. I cannot thank you enough but can certainly admire your selfless sacrifices. I could not have achieved this in isolation. This dissertation was possible only because of the support and love I had from everyone who I would like to thank at this point. My husband who stood by me at every step of this research including my overnight visits at dance bars. My mum and dad for being by my side and teaching me the values I believe in. I thank my brother and uncle for their patience and belief in the long process of Ph.D. program. I would also like to thank my mother in law who encouraged me to conduct this research. I have another family as close to me that helped me at several stages of this research. I sincerely thank my chair Dr. Scannapieco for everything she has done to help me complete this dissertation. Thank you so much for believing in me. I thank Dr. Elliott for her able guidance as a mentor in my Ph.D. program and in entering the academic world. I would also like to thank Dr. Hegar for culminating my interest in understanding larger policy issues, Dr. Pillai for always being available to help me out. A special thank to Dr.Aguire for believing in my ability to conduct an ethnographic study as part of a social work program and Dr. Ritu Khandure for her guidance. Last but not the least, I would like to thank Dheeshana, Candy, Lydia, Sadia, Rita, Ginger and Jaime for all their help at every step of this research. Thank you all for making this possible. November 24, 2009 iii ABSTRACT EXPLORING VULNERABILITY AND CONSENT TO TRAFFICKING RELATED MIGRATION: A STUDY OF SOUTH ASIAN BAR DANCERS Nairruti Jani, PhD The University of Texas at Arlington, 2009 Supervising Professor: Maria Scannapieco Lack of resources in South Asian countries compel many people to migrate to other countries, some legally, others illegally. In 2005, Over 100,000 bar dancers in Mumbai became unemployed overnight when the state government banned bar dancing under international pressure. Some of these bar dancers were forced to become prostitutes; some others migrated to other countries, including U.S., for work (Chadha, 2007). While dancing in U.S., these girls are kept under heavy security, they are not allowed to talk to the patrons, nor are they allowed to go out of their designated apartment on their own. They are sent from one city to another city, and are generally unaware of their next destination. Even though these girls have migrated with their own will, their prison like situation suggests that they can be defined as victims of human trafficking. Even though the girls actually consented, they are subject to debt-bondage, earn very little income and are denied basic liberties. This ‘consensual trafficking’ has not been studied by the academic community or by the policy makers. This research studies bar dancers in U.S. and explores the factors which create vulnerability in bar dancers to consent to trafficking related migration. The main research question is (1) What are the reasons that iv create vulnerability among certain groups of people who either get trafficked or smuggled? This research explores a pioneering field of research which is a recent phenomenon. This qualitative research is based on grounded theory involving in-depth data collection from the informants and the researcher. The data collection was based on auto-ethnographic principles, where the researcher observes and interacts with participants and creates a detailed field note that includes researchers own perceptions about participant interactions. Findings indicate that the vulnerability to trafficking within south Asia is characterized by poverty, gender bias, caste or religion by birth, lack of education and lack of awareness. Single women are more prone to trafficking as they do not have any support systems and are required to feed themselves and their children. Lack of employable skill makes it difficult for them to find employment in South Asian competitive markets. Another significant finding is that positive social networks and family support reduced the risk of trafficking among South Asian women from rural areas to urban areas in South Asia. However, lack of family support got translated in lack of community networks for some victims who then chose to use unknown migration networks. Traffickers employed migration agents at rural areas who deceived many of South Asia women and lured them as well as their families by creating false dream jobs in foreign destinations. Some women got trapped in debt trap of these agents who paid the migration cost for the victims and enslaved them after reaching the destination. This finding relates to theory of social support, social exchange and migration theory of network. Lack of employment, increasing age, debts and acculturation in Mumbai bars were the primary contributors to South Asian bar dancers’ vulnerability to international trafficking. Older women and Muslim women were more prone to be trafficked to gulf countries where as Hindu girls and younger girls were trafficked to western countries. After the ban on dance bars in Mumbai the vulnerability of former bar dancers increased significantly due to reduced employment opportunities. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS..............................................................................................................vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ ix Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………..………..….. ..................................... 1 2. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................................ 9 2.1 Review Method............................................................................................... 10 2.2 Definition of Human Trafficking ..................................................................... 11 2.3 Review of South Asian Research Cohort ....................................................... 14 2.4 Review of International Literature .................................................................. 19 2.5 Findings from Empirical Review ..................................................................... 22 2.6 Findings from Theoretical Review of Literature ............................................. 23 2.7 Theoretical Perspectives ................................................................................ 27 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................................................... 38 3.1 Rationale for Qualitative Design..................................................................... 40 3.2 Research Questions ....................................................................................... 42 3.3 Research Method ........................................................................................... 42 3.4 Profile of Research Participants ..................................................................... 44 3.5 Research Setting ............................................................................................ 45 3.6 Sampling ........................................................................................................ 46 3.7 Data Collection Method .................................................................................. 48 3.8 Ethical Issues in Data Collection .................................................................... 50 vi 3.9 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 54 3.10 Human Subject Protection ........................................................................... 57 3.11 Cost-Benefit Analysis ................................................................................... 58 4. DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................... 60 4.1 Contact Summary Sheet ................................................................................ 60 4.2 Coding ............................................................................................................ 65 4.3 Revised Coding .............................................................................................. 68 4.4 Pattern Coding ............................................................................................... 69 4.5 Field Report .................................................................................................... 72 4.6 Field Observation ........................................................................................... 73 5. RESULTS ....................................................................................................................
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